RP Battery Box

[Smiley]

Hi Folks,  can anyone tell me if the original battery box (on a Dec 1932 RP Box Saloon), was a complete box.  
My 6V Battery is sitting on a strap about 25m/m wide, welded under the drivers seat, with a Bungee Strap
securing it. (Obviously not original). There are indications that an original box may have been cut away 
during previous restoration work.  
Apart from this, there is one hell of draft coming through the hole. Help.

[Martin Prior]

Hi Folks,  can anyone tell me if the original battery box (on a Dec 1932 RP Box Saloon), was a complete box.  
My 6V Battery is sitting on a strap about 25m/m wide, welded under the drivers seat, with a Bungee Strap
securing it. (Obviously not original). There are indications that an original box may have been cut away 
during previous restoration work.  
Apart from this, there is one hell of draft coming through the hole. Help.

When I bought my early RP (reg. 01/02/33) in the seventies it only had - and still has - a couple of 3/4" steel straps to support the battery, which may or may not have been original.  The car failed an MOT a few years ago on this and I had to cobble up a plywood box around the battery to get it through. We currently have a customer's April '33 RP here that has an original-looking full box for the battery.

[Smiley]

Thanks for your input Martin, I had thought of getting a new box but am unsure whether it would drop into the existing
hole without fouling the chassis member.

[Andy Bennett]

My 33 RP has a full box which slots in from the inside with 'flaps' welded to the floor. Others I have seen have the same.
It is a snug fit for the battery and without venturing out to check have not noticed it as an interference fit with the chassis.
There was one on ebay a little while ago. If you don't have fabrication facilities then I am sure one of our bodywork cherished suppliers must offer them.
Andy

[Smiley]

My 33 RP has a full box which slots in from the inside with 'flaps' welded to the floor. Others I have seen have the same.
It is a snug fit for the battery and without venturing out to check have not noticed it as an interference fit with the chassis.
There was one on ebay a little while ago. If you don't have fabrication facilities then I am sure one of our bodywork cherished suppliers must offer them.
Andy

Thank you Andy, I did see the one on eBay, and also Oxford 7s do them. (maybe the same). I think I will take a gamble and get one.

[Martin Prior]

When I bought my early RP (reg. 01/02/33) in the seventies it only had - and still has - a couple of 3/4" steel straps to support the battery, which may or may not have been original.  The car failed an MOT a few years ago on this and I had to cobble up a plywood box around the battery to get it through.  We currently have a customer's April '33 RP here that has an original-looking full box for the battery.

A quick check shows that the size and position of the hole in the floor is the same on both RPs.  The earlier car shows no sign of a box having been welded or rivetted in place.

[Stuart Joseph]

Good morning. Somewhere I have an original RP battery box and rather than being folded up from one sheet it is two pieces with four folds - two lips which overlap the floor and the base folds. This must have saved Austins material by not cutting out a cruciform shape or tessellating many on one sheet.

Regards from the creative county - Staffordshire
Stuart

[Smiley]

Hi Stuart, Thanks for the input. Having retired from the sheet metal trade for 17 years, maybe i'll have a dabble and have a go myself. No need for the corners to be welded.

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When I bought my early RP (reg. 01/02/33) in the seventies it only had - and still has - a couple of 3/4" steel straps to support the battery, which may or may not have been original.  The car failed an MOT a few years ago on this and I had to cobble up a plywood box around the battery to get it through.  We currently have a customer's April '33 RP here that has an original-looking full box for the battery.

A quick check shows that the size and position of the hole in the floor is the same on both RPs.  The earlier car shows no sign of a box having been welded or rivetted in place.

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Thanks for the update Martin.